Jay Newman (February 28, 1948 – June 17, 2007) was a

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and Professor at the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Welli ...

Biography

Newman was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, the son of Lou Newman and his wife, Kitty. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

in 1968 before acquiring his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1969 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in Toronto, Canada, in 1971. He began teaching at the

in 1971, where he taught until his death. His fields of study (and his 11 books) included

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning ph ...

, philosophy of

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

, and the

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

. He became a Canadian citizen in 1986. In 1995 he was named a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life ...

and he was past president of the

Canadian Theological Society The Canadian Theological Society (CTS) is a learned society founded in 1955 to promote the study of theology. The society is a member of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR) and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and S ...

. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award of Honor from Brooklyn College in 1988 and was recipient of the 2001 University of Guelph's President's Distinguished Professor Award. The University of Guelph has established the Jay Newman Award for Academic Integrity in his memory. In 2009, the Canadian Theological Society inaugurated the Jay Newman Memorial Lecture in the Philosophy of Religion. Newman was a lifelong fan of the works of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

and wrote several articles about

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...

and the

Savoy Operas Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impr ...

. A series of lectures about Gilbert and Sullivan-related topics have been given in his name, in New York City, by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of New York. He died in 2007 of cancer at age 59.

Selected publications

* ''Pious Pro-family Rhetoric: Postures And Paradoxes in Philosophical Perspective'' (2006) * ''Biblical Religion and Family Values'' (2001) * ''Inauthentic Culture and Its Philosophical Critics'' (1997) * ''Religion and Technology'' (1997) * ''Religion vs. Television'' (1996) * ''On Religious Freedom'' (1991) * ''Competition in Religious Life'' (1989) * ''The Journalist in Plato's Cave'' (1989) * ''Fanatics and Hypocrites'' (1986) * ''The Mental Philosophy of John Henry Newman'' (1986) * ''Foundations of Religious Tolerance'' (1982)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Jay 1948 births 2007 deaths American expatriate academics American expatriates in Canada Jewish philosophers People from Brooklyn Brown University alumni Canadian philosophers Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Academic staff of the University of Guelph York University alumni Deaths from cancer in Ontario Jewish American writers Jewish Canadian writers Philosophers of religion Philosophers of culture Brooklyn College alumni 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews

Biography

Selected publications

See also

References

External links